Cranberry variety named WI92-A-X15

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct cranberry variety “W198-A-X15” is described. The variety is distinguished by significantly higher yields, larger fruit size, more favorable bud set traits, tolerance to high levels of fertilizer, higher and earlier red pigmentation, and ability to set excellent crops at an early age as compared to ‘Stevens’, the most widely grown cranberry cultivar. “W198-A-X15” was derived from a controlled cross of the variety ‘Stevens’ and an open-pollinated seedling selection of the variety ‘Ben Lear’ designated as “Boone&#39;s BL8”.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: Vacciniummacrocarpon Ait.

Variety denomination: WI92-A-X15.

The present invention relates to a new and distinctive cranberry clonalvariety having significantly higher yields, larger fruit size, morefavorable bud set traits, tolerance to high levels of fertilizer, highred pigmentation and ability to produce excellent crops at an early ageas compared to the leading commercial cultivar, ‘Stevens’.

The American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait., is a small fruitgrown commercially in the temperate regions of North America and Chile.The United States is presently the major producer of cranberries, withthe combined Wisconsin and Massachusetts harvests accounting for themajority of U.S. and world annual production. Currently Wisconsinproduces over half of the U.S. crop.

The American cranberry is well known for its tart flavor and its redpigment. The importance of adequate pigment content (measured as totalanthocyanins or Tacy, and expressed as mg per 100 grams fresh fruit) isrecognized by most processors as they are known to give a reduced valueto poorly colored fruit. Cranberry selections widely grown today havegenerally not experienced the extensive breeding as seen in otherfruit-bearing species. Many selections were derived directly from nativeareas or from managed beds of mixed origin. For example, ‘Ben Lear’(unpatented) is a cranberry selection taken directly from the wild inWisconsin in the early 1880's, and is widely grown in short-seasonalareas due to its early fruit development and high color content. TheU.S. Department of Agriculture undertook, in cooperation with stateexperimental stations, one generation of breeding in an attempt toimprove U.S. cranberry cultivars. The breeding resulted in theintroduction of the ‘Stevens’ (unpatented) variety in 1950. The‘Stevens’ variety is today the most widely grown cultivar and ischaracterized by dependably good yields, but only moderate colordevelopment, especially in short-seasonal regions such as Wisconsin.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cranberry variety.The variety is designated “WI92-A-X15” and was produced throughcontrolled breeding performed in 1990 at the University ofWisconsin-Madison. Cranberry variety “W192-A-X15” is derived from acontrolled cross of the ‘Stevens’ variety and a selection designated“Boone's BL8” (originally derived from an open-pollinated population ofseedlings of ‘Ben Lear’).

“W192-A-X15” cranberry was initially selected based on large berry sizein August of 1992 and was clonally propagated for field trials plantedin 1994. “W192-A-X15” demonstrated continued production of large berriesand favorable bud set traits, including both good fruit bud set ingeneral and excellent bud set on fruiting stems (‘uprights’)specifically. “W192-A-X15” was compared to ‘Stevens’ both in plotswithin common beds (2004 and 2009 data presented in FIG. 2-4) and infull beds utilizing a 0.66 acre dedicated bed planted in 2006 and on a 2acre portion of a larger bed planted in 2007. In late September of 2009,four years after planting, the 0.66 acre bed was harvested and inmid-October of 2009, three years after planting, the 2 acre bed washarvested. The yields were compared to established beds of ‘Stevens’harvested in the same time period (Table 1).

“WI92-A-X15” exhibits significantly higher yields (up to approximatelytwo times higher than variety ‘Stevens’), larger fruit size, morefavorable bud set traits, tolerance to high levels of fertilizer,earlier and higher red pigmentation, and an ability to set excellentcrops at an early age as compared to ‘Stevens’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1. WI92-A-X15 uprights with fruit, Monroe County, Wisconsin, Sep.30, 2009. Note the large size and good pigmentation of the fruit and thepresence of flower buds on the fruiting upright tips.

FIG. 2. Fruit color (anthocyanin) accumulation in fruit from plots of‘Stevens’ and “WI-A-X15” during the late growing season of 2004 in acommon bed in Wood County Wisconsin. “WI92-A-X15” pigmentation isconsistently above ‘Stevens’. Data presented is the average of sixreplicates for each time point for each variety.

FIG. 3. Average berry size of fruit from plots of ‘Stevens’ and“WI-A-X15” at two points of the growing season of 2004 in a common bedin Wood County, Wisconsin (same plots as represented in FIG. 2) .“WI-A-X15” displays both early and late berry bulking that leads to alarger berry size compared to ‘Stevens’. Values are the average of sixreplicates for each harvest date for each variety.

FIG. 4. Average berry size of fruit from plots of ‘Stevens’ and“WI-A-X15” at two points of the growing season of 2009 in a common bedin Wood County, Wisconsin (different location than that represented inFIG. 3). “WI-A-X15” uniformly has larger average berry size than‘Stevens’, consistent with its original selection. Values are theaverage of three replicates for each harvest date for each variety.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

The distinctive characteristics of the new “WI92-A-X15” variety areshown in Tables 1 and 2 and described in detail below.

Visual analysis of “W192-A-X15” cranberry samples taken between earlySeptember and early October 2009 demonstrated fruit color developmentand fruit size exceeding that of parent cultivar ‘Stevens’. “W192-A-X15”fruit from the four-year-old, 0.66 acre bed and the three-year-old, 2acre bed were harvested at the beginning of October and mid-October of2009, respectively, and comparison ‘Stevens’ fruit was harvested overthe course of several weeks in October. Yields from each “W192-A-X15”bed were compared to established beds of ‘Stevens’ over the whole farmand specific beds indicated in Table 1 (see Table 1 for harvest dates).Yield is expressed as barrels per acre or B/a, 1 barrel=100 lbs. Asshown in Table 1, cranberries from the four-year-old “W192-A-X15” bedout-performed the established variety ‘Stevens’ by about two-fold,yielding 476 B/a versus a farm average of 243 B/a for 66 acres of‘Stevens’. Examples of individual beds of ‘Stevens’ show a range from217 to 278 B/a. The three-year-old “W192-A-X15” had a yield similar tothat of established ‘Stevens’ with 242 B/a. In contrast, the yieldsproduced from two beds of ‘Stevens’ planted in 1995, produced 153 and156 B/a as three-year-olds, respectively, and 192 and 204 B/a asfour-year-olds, respectively.

“W192-A-X15” was not only able to produce higher yields, but the fruitcolor was favorable when compared with ‘Stevens’. The 0.66 acre bed of“W192-A-X15” was harvested eight to fifteen days earlier than the‘Stevens’ beds, yet had nearly equivalent fruit color (Table 1). The 2acre area of “W192-A-X15” was harvested only a few days later than the‘Stevens’ beds, yet had fruit color approximately 50% greater.

TABLE 1 Yield comparison of “W192-A-X15” and ‘Stevens’ cranberryvarieties in 2009 at a commercial cranberry farm in Wood County,Wisconsin. ‘'Stevens’ “W192-A-X15” Specific ‘Stevens’ beds (all at least10-yr-old) 4-yr-old 3-yr-old Overall A14 A18 A6 A20 A24 Yield (B/a) 476242 243 217 236 278 248 229 Size (acres) 0.66 2.00 66 3.17 4.59 2.274.06 3.58 N applied 74 74 42 42 42 42 42 42 (lbs/acre) Harvest date 10/110/17 — 10/10 10/9 10/15 10/12 10/9 Tacy 26 47 — 29 27 30 28 27 (mg/100g)

High rates of nitrogen can cause excessive vegetative growth, or“overgrowth”, resulting in numerous non-fruiting stolons growing overthe top of the canopy. ‘Stevens’ is particularly susceptible to suchnitrogen induced overgrowth, which can be associated with reducedyields. Unlike ‘Stevens’, “W192-A-X15” displays little overgrowth, noreduced yields, and no changes in berry size or upright average growthwhen treated with high levels of nitrogen; instead “W198-A-X15” displaysan increase in flower bud set under high nitrogen fertilization. Thetolerance of cranberry variety “W192-A-X15” to high levels of fertilizercan be seen in Table 2. The effects of increased fertilizer and thetolerance thereto displayed by “W192-A-X15” is also demonstrated inTable 1 as the yields shown for “W192-A-X15” were not adversely affectedby the significantly higher units of nitrogen applied than what was usedfor ‘Stevens’.

In early October of 2009 the tolerance of “W192-A-X15” to increasednitrogen was evaluated at a testing site near Tomah, Wis. Plots of“W192-A-X15” were fertilized with nitrogen levels used throughout thebed or received additional fertilizer from three extra applications ofammonium sulfate as well as a slow release fertilizer. Table 2 shows theresulting effects of nitrogen treatment of five samples of “W192-A-X15”.In particular, the high nitrogen treated plot of “W192-A-X15” did notdisplay overgrowth, reduced yields or differences in berry size orupright average growth; instead a slight increase in yield and a largeincrease in flower bud set was observed.

TABLE 2 Effects of low and high nitrogen (N) fertilization on yield andother characteristics in “W192-A-X15” cranberry variety in 2009 nearTomah, WI. (numbers in parentheses denote standard error) Units N Avg.berry Avg. upright Flower bud Shoot N Treatment (lbs/acre) Yield (B/a)weight (g) fresh wt. (g) set (%) content (% DW) Low N 32   559 (36) 1.65(0.05) 0.11 (0.01) 28.5 (5.7) 0.87 (0.04) High N 66+ 612 (27) 1.64(0.03) 0.10 (0.01) 57.8 (8.0) 1.16 (0.08)

The red pigment of cranberry is located almost entirely in the epidermallayers of the fruit. One factor which can to contribute to highextractable fruit color in cranberry is small fruit size, due in part tothe influence of surface area to weight ratio on the total pigmentcontent for each fruit. A negative correlation between yield and fruitcolor has also been suggested. However, “WI92-A-X15” demonstrated bettercoloration in combination with increased fruit size and greater yieldpotential. Thus, “WI92-A-X15” appears to be able to produce high yieldsand large fruit size simultaneously with good fruit coloration (Table 1and FIGS. 2-4.).

Thus, “WI92-A-X15” appears to be able to develop high levels ofextractable pigmentation simultaneously with increased fruit size andyield.

The combination of the above “WI92-A-X15” characteristics easilydifferentiates “WI92-A-X15” from both its parents. The abovecharacteristics also provide the “WI92-A-X15” variety with benefits notrecognized in other commercially grown and established varieties. Forexample, the increased yield and flower but set of “WI92-A-X15” providesthe potential to increase both the current year's crop and the nextyear's crop through fertilizer regime. “WI92-A-X15” additionallyprovides beneficial and distinct aspects over other cranberry cultivarsas evidenced by its high yields. For instance, the observedapproximately two times greater yield than the most planted ‘Stevens’cultivar demonstrates a great advantage of the “WI92-A-X15” variety.

-   Scientific name: Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.-   Parentage: The variety is a cross of the ‘Stevens’ variety and a    selection designated “Boone's BL8”, which was derived from an    open-pollinated population of seedlings of ‘Ben Lear’.-   Reproductive structures: The cranberry variety has both asexual    (stolons) and sexual reproductive (fruit) structures.-   Propagation: Cranberries can reproduce both asexually and sexually.    For instance, stolons readily root when contacted with soil or    reproduction may occur from seeds. Cranberry cultivars are    propagated asexually through rooting of stolons and vertical shoots.    Cranberry growers typically reproduce cranberries with either rooted    or unrooted cuttings, or vine prunings that are broadcast and then    pressed into the soil surface.-   Productivity: “W198-A-X15” has out-yielded ‘Stevens’ by two-fold. In    a four-year-old, 0.66 acre bed “W198-A-X15” yielded yielding 476 B/a    while ‘Stevens’ produced a multi-bed farm average of 243 B/a. In a    three-year-old, 2 acre bed “W192-A-X15” yielded 242 B/a, which was    comparable to the yield observed for the established much older    ‘Stevens’ beds, but yields were greater than from three and    four-year old beds of ‘Stevens’ planted which produced an average of    154.5 B/a and 198 B/a, respectively. Yield data shown in Tables 1    and 2.

1. A new and distinct variety of cranberry plant named “W192-A-X15”herein described and illustrated.